The invention relates to an electric arrangement and to a method for controlling at least two electric motors.
Such an electric arrangement, for controlling at least two electric motors, has at least one first H-bridge arrangement (also referred to as full-bridge arrangement) and a second H-bridge arrangement and comprises a first electric motor, which is electrically connected to a first switching element, a second switching element, a third switching element and a fourth switching element in the first H-bridge arrangement. In this case, the first electric motor is arranged in a first bridge branch of the first H-bridge arrangement. The first electric motor can be for example an adjusting motor of a window winding device of a motor vehicle. In the context of the electric arrangement, for example, said motor can be controlled by means of pulse width modulation and for this purpose can be interconnected with the first, second, third and fourth switching elements in the H-bridge arrangement.
The switching elements can be for example semiconductor transistors, in particular MOSFETs and/or or IGBTs.
In this case, the first electric motor is connected to a first half-bridge via a first motor contact, wherein the first half-bridge comprises the first switching element and the second switching element. In addition, the first electric motor is connected to a second half-bridge via a second motor contact, said second half-bridge comprising the third switching element and the fourth switching element.
Furthermore, the electric arrangement comprises at least one second electric motor arranged in a second bridge branch of the second H-bridge arrangement. In this case, the second electric motor is connected to a third half-bridge via a third motor contact, said third half-bridge comprising a fifth switching element and a sixth switching element.
The second electric motor can be for example a second adjusting motor of a window winding device in a motor vehicle. In this regard, the first adjusting motor can be arranged for example for adjusting a windowpane of a left vehicle door, and the second electric motor can be arranged for adjusting a windowpane of a right vehicle door. Furthermore, the first adjusting motor can be arranged for example for adjusting a windowpane of a front vehicle door, while the second electric motor can be arranged for adjusting a windowpane of a rear vehicle door. In this case, a user may desire to control the two electric motors in such a way that the windowpane at the left or front vehicle door is raised, while the windowpane at the right or rear vehicle door is lowered, or vice versa.
It is known, in an electric arrangement of the type described in the introduction, to provide two separate H-bridge arrangements for controlling the first electric motor, on the one hand, and the second electric motor, on the other hand. Accordingly, the second electric motor is connected by a fourth motor contact to a fourth half-bridge comprising a seventh switching element and an eighth switching element. What is disadvantageous in the case of the previously known solution is that a total of at least eight switching elements are required for controlling two electric motors. It should be taken into consideration here that each switching element firstly per se is associated with costs and weight and secondly takes up valuable structural space, for example on a printed circuit board.